Yesterday I was lucky enough to get two rusty ploughs (well one is actually a disc harrow) for my new back garden. I had seen them on Gumtree a little over a week ago and went to check them out last Sunday afternoon. Fortunately they were only about ten minutes drive away. Nice when something you want to buy is that close. As I walked up the driveway I spotted the plough in the garden (fell in love with it straight away) but couldn't see the harrow anywhere. I met the owner, Lynette, who took me over to where I had seen the plough and proceeded to point out the harrow hidden amongst some plants in the same garden. After a little trailblazing through the garden, a rather large and somewhat rusty piece of farm machinery began to be revealed. I wasn't sure we would be able to get it out of the garden, let alone even lift it. But then Lynette said the magic words, "We've just dropped the price down to $20 but if you buy the plough my husband, Scott, said you can have the disc harrow for free". I now knew I definitely wanted both ploughs.
Now I needed to work out how on earth I was going to get these things home. So who do you call when you need something big moved? Why, your little brother, David, of course. After all he does have a trailer. I felt a bit like Mike from American Pickers as he often calls his brother when he needs something big picked up. Anyway, David kindly said he would love to help his big brother. So along with David, myself and my son, Rob, we were all set to go.
To cut a long story short, we met up at Lynette and Scott's place and set to work loading the trailer. We had to dismantle the disc harrow into four pieces (a bit of angle grinding here and hammer and cold chisel there) as there was absolutely no way we were going to move it in one piece. Even then some pieces were extremely heavy. Half an hour later and my ploughs were on the way to their new home. Another hour later and they were in place in my new backyard garden (not completely bolted back together though). All the heavy moving finished by lunch time.
A few hours work in the afternoon saw the disc harrow all bolted back together and looking even better than it did before we moved it. Thankfully, I had saved all of Dad's tins of old rusty bolts and managed to find just what I needed in these tins. Very happy with the way it all turned out and very thankful to Lynette and Scott for their generosity and to David and Rob for their brawn. Couldn't have done it with out you guys.
Below are some photos of my new toys. I just love them.
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| My ploughs |
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| The Horse Drawn Disc Harrow (C1900?) Nice rusty patina. Both steering levers move but only one still really works |
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| Poor old tractor seat is rusted completely through but now stays firmly in place thanks to a little rusty wire |
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| Ten lethal chopping discs on the harrow, five each side |
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| The Single Furrow Horse Drawn Plough (Circa late 1800s?) |
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| Love the flowing lines of this type of plough. Very sculptural. |
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| Cool cast iron handles with nice rusty patina. Not sure what the numbers mean, maybe a design number? |
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| More numbers on the plough - P 1852 (Maybe a patent date?) |
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| Sweet lines |
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| The Disc Harrow and Plough again |
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| Photo showing full extent of my new backyard garden. Still a lot more plants to put in. Can't wait for them all to grow |
Hmm! I now have two pieces of nice rusty farm machinery. Does this constitute the beginning of another collection??? Looks like there is still room for some more.
